When I woke up during the night, I figured out that the water was not working - hmmm. I ultimately got myself out of bed just before alarm (0535) and got ready. After getting back from my Ho Chi Minh City tour at 2200 last night, this early wake-up was very difficult... At 0615, I went to breakfast (eggs, bacon, fruit, beans, cereal) at World Cafe. The early morning hurry was worth the effort because I had a tour called “Monuments of Vung Tau” (11.5 hours) that departed at 0700! I left Viking Venus at 0645 - the weather was nice (dry, 70s, less humidity) and the bus was just over half full when we departed the Port (0700). Our tour guide's name was Lam and our driver was Mr. Huong. We drove north towards the edge of Ho Chi Minh City - it was rush hour and this, coupled with the horrible condition of the pavement and queues at the Toll Road toll booths, made for very slow going. The funny stories about life in Vietnam from our guide did help to pass some of the time... We crossed the Saigon River on a huge suspension bridge and then changed direction (gradually) toward the south. Along the way, I saw more Subarus on the highway. Another interesting feature was the countdown timers at each intersection, which provided situational awareness for lights changing. One downside: I was surrounded by many coughing passengers. During this phase, Lam told us about the oil industry of Vung Tau, the large number of ex-pats (mostly Russian) and how some of them had founded highly successful donut shops. We had to cross another big bridge on the east side of Ho Chi Minh City and then it took a full hour to reach the expressway toward Long Thanh. We got on and off this road, though, and the speeds stayed closer to 35 mph for a lot of the drive. It was interesting to watch the driving behavior of the trucks/buses - they used the left lane at all times. On the other hand, roads that allowed scooters provided a large right hand lane for them to use. We stopped for a bathroom break at Bo Sua 3+ (a large warehouse type building). Inside, the staff were selling snacks and local food (Bao Cakes) but the biggest feature appeared to be something called “Lothamilk”. After we departed (0905), Lam told us a story of a retired Doctor who started selling this unique kind of milk and, once the business became very popular, how many more roadside businesses became copy cats. Meanwhile, we did even more meandering (on/off highway). There was a lot more traffic but we got a good look at a beautiful Catholic Church (Song Vinh / St. Anthony). By the end of our three hour drive across difficult roads, we reached Vung Tau, which was located on a peninsula near the delta for the Saigon River. Looking back, the time we had on the road gave us a real feel for life in Southern Vietnam. Lam told us that Vung Tau means something like “ship port”. At 1010 and made our first stop at Thang Tam Temple, which was built in 1824 and memorialized the special relationship between fishermen and whales. From our Guide, we learned about the annual festivals that pay homage to the whales, protectors of local fishermen. The Buddhist monks are so certain of the power of this believe that they have preserved several groups of whale bones in little shrines inside the temple. There was also a lot of beautiful artwork that portrayed the way the locals felt (according to Lam) about the "Whale God". We were back on the road by 1035 but only drove a short distance to visit the Villa Blanche (White Palace), a French Colonial building that once housed the Vietnamese King in the early Ninetieth Century. Unfortunately, after we got off of the bus we learned that it was closed ("because it is Monday"). Lam called an audible and we next went to the Robert Taylor Worldwide Military Museum instead. The building was packed full of military weapons, national uniforms, flags, artwork and memorial plaques for almost two thousand years of history. What a collection. When I was finished with my tour of all the displays, I sat down for a break in a covered atrium. While there, I met a Vietnam War veteran (Pat, an Army helicopter pilot) who was visiting familiar sights from when he served in-country in the late 1960s. He told me he'd been stationed quite close to Vung Tau (and Hue, earlier). He had many interesting flying stories and it helped to pass the time before our scheduled departure. Until today, I’d only just read about the struggles of our Vietnam Vets but he brought much of the past to life - very glad to have met him. After everyone was back on the bus (1155), we drove to a local fish market, which was full of many interesting (live) fish and crustaceans. Lam told us that if we had arrived earlier in the morning, we could have bought stingray. By that time, though (1220), the market had already sold out of that local delicacy. The smells and sounds of the market gave us quite a good feel for the area and I began to feel pretty good about my choice of excursions. When we resumed our drive down the coast we passed huge statue of St. Mary and the Christ child. Due to the guide's commentary and speed of the bus, though, we missed getting good photos of this landmark and other things that looked interesting (e.g., gondola up the mountain). I guess we needed to stay on track in order to make it back to the ship in time but there were a few moments where I wished I was on my own... Instead, we went to the Gann Hao Seafood Restaurant (1230), where we were treated to a special, seven course meal: coconut tuber salad with shrimp & pork; mixed vegetable soup with pork; deep fried baby squid (or octopus) with fish sauce; shrimp with Hong Kong salt; deep fried (tilapia) filet with tomato sauce; garlic fried rice; dessert (mixed fruit). I found myself sitting on the waterfront (water was only about 50 feet away!) with and older Indian couple (Babu & Susan) and my new friend, Pat. All of the food selections were very good and I very much enjoyed the ambiance of sitting on the rocky beach. From our table, we could see LOTS of huge tanker ships. There was also good evidence of a major rain storm coming up from the sea side - fortunately, it didn’t affect us because we had a cover over us. Still, the downpour caused disruption for other patrons and the staff had to lower big awnings and curtains to calm things down again (reminded me of one visit I made to the Cafe du Mond during a storm). The bus was very close by and we barely got wet when we departed the restaurant (1330). Once again, our drive was very short and we soon found ourselves exiting the bus again at the "sister pub” of the place where we ate lunch (it was called Gann Hao 2). Outside, it continued raining hard... We each got a drink (I had a Bia Saigon Chill) and we spent time stalling until the weather improved. During this break, I did have some nice conversations with other passengers, including Lou & Debbie (from Hilton Head). I also got some photos (from under a big awning) of the local fishing fleet. As the rain slackened, we reboarded the bus (1430) and drove a short distance so we could visit Christ the King of Vung Tau, located on Mount Nho. Lam told us the story of the man who started building the huge statue of Jesus in 1974 - he fled the country when Saigon fell and the statue was only finished (apparently by the government of Vietnam) only in 1997. Lam added that only 6% of the country is Catholic but this still equates to six million people. After arriving, we were informed that there were lots of rules (e.g., no shorts, no water bottles, no hats, umbrellas or ladies with uncovered shoulders) that must be followed to visit the landmark. Lam said something like "penitence can't be easy". When he told us that it would take at least one hour to climb up the 900 steps and another hour to descend, I was dubious. But then (1445), he only gave us “20-25 minutes” to visit at the site. This ticked me off a little bit - he clearly wanted to start heading back to the Port. But I had come to see this statue and make the climb. So, I left the bottom and started up the steps, giving myself 15 minutes to see how high I could get. After I reached the 600 mark, however, another passenger (Blake) caught up with me. Now a team of renegades, we agreed to stick together for the last 300 steps. Together, my new friend and I got lots of photos, including of each other and the spectacular views of the ocean. After that, it was a mad rush back to the bus. In the end, though, I achieved the 900 steps and I felt awesome! Meanwhile, very few other guests even got off the bus and one was Blake's wife (Maryam), who ran interference for us. Regardless, we returned to the bus in time. For this reason, I don’t think our tour guide believed we’d accomplished the feat but we did have photographic evidence. Later, I exchanged emails with Blake and Maryam that included photos (in both directions) of our adventure. Next (1615), the Guide maneuvered us towards a "consolation prize" stop (in lieu of the Villa Blanche) - a commune of the Ong Tran Community on Long Son Island. Lam represented the Long (or Big) House as some sort of "cult-like group home" and most people seemed disenchanted with the offering. Our guide must have sensed this so he offered to let everyone vote on whether to skip this stop and the result was about 20-5 to go back to the ship (I abstained). However, we then proceeded to go to the Long House anyway - I figure this was a good lesson from Lam on Vietnamese Communism... When we arrived (1545), only seven of us got off the bus with Lam - everyone else remained onboard and waited for us. In the background of the location, we got a good view of Long Son, which means "Dragon Mountain" in Vietnamese. It turned out that there was a major festival approaching for the Long House. Lam told us that a man named Mr. Jeong had founded the religion observed by the residents in 1910. By the new theology, everyone is a god but heroes are especially worshipped. Adherents help the poor and live by a philosophy of simplicity: "we are born nothing and die nothing." The believers wear simple clothing and are buried in unmarked graves. They apparently are also provide a very welcoming home for indigent people and a mecca for believers in a synergistic local religion. I'm not sure I understood everything but Lam hinted that the faith was a melding of the teachings of Jesus, Buddha and Confucius (i.e., Christianity, Buddhism and Taoism). When we arrived, the residents gave us tea and then took us on a tour of the grounds (altars, sleeping area, kitchen(. Several old ladies kept shaking my hands (for luck?). When it was time to leave, we were invited to eat lunch with the group (food was being prepared). Politely declining, we departed at 1630 after getting an interesting insight into communal living in rural parts of Southern Vietnam. On the bus, I changed my shirt and settled in for the long drive back to our ship (via Ho Chi Minh City). On the way, Lam told us that Vung Tau is now part of Saigon (there was a reorganization of provinces). To reach Viking Venus, we mostly used roads on the island and then got back on the Expressway we'd taken in the morning. I noticed even more churches and Buddhist temples on the way. As we made our way north, we started to encounter SO any trucks and the going got very slow. Meanwhile, it was getting dark. We stopped at Bo Sua 2 (Long Thanh Rest Stop), across the street from the one we saw earlier in the day, at 1720 but were back on the road 15 minutes later. We used the Expressway for a short time but then took a series of slow roads with rotaries. About halfway back, I realized I'd drank from five water bottles during the day... I’ve been yawning all day and really wanted to doze - unfortunately, the stopping and starting didn't help. Next, we got on another Expressway and crossed a big bridge. Traffic was still bad in this area but I got some great views of Ho Chi Minh City skyline lit up for the night (including a purple skyscraper). Still in traffic, we crossed a second big bridge and got very close to the Southern Palace. When I saw that, I realized we were using a completely new way to get through southern part of the city. We actually passed through a tunnel (hadn't seen that before) and the driver then had to turn around, using the same tunnel in the other direction. After that, we literally continued in circles until we were finally going the right way. We arrived at the ship at 1930 - all told, we spent 12.5 hours on the road today! When we reboarded Viking Venus, we found Deck 1 to be extremely busy. At Guest Services, I tried to get change for a $20 bill (so I would have money for tips) but learned that there were no $5 bills left onboard. I'll admit that I got a little annoyed to hear this... Back in my stateroom, I took a shower, got my wet belongings drying and prepped for the next day. Not feeling hungry for dinner, I went to the World Cafe to only get desserts (I managed to stay on target for this goal). For the rest of the evening, I read, worked on puzzles and completed a survey for my recent tours. Bedtime was at 2230. Gonna get some much needed sleep now...
